“That’s what we do – we’re a strong offensive team,” Mira Costa catcher Katie Saunders said. “We’re going to hit the ball hard every at-bat. We have power throughout the lineup. There’s no weak link.

“This was not out of the ordinary.”

Shannon Savino hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning – her third this season – to give Mira Costa an 8-5 lead after PV had scratched out five unanswered runs.

“I was just looking for a basehit,” Savino said. “I never hope for home runs. I’ve been working on keeping my swing level and looking for base hits.”

Ulufa Leilua added a booming solo homer – her fourth of the season – to lead off the sixth inning.

Katie Saunders clubbed two doubles. Meghan von Behren went 3 for 4 with an RBI triple. And Brittany Werre capped the onslaught with a three-run triple. She went 2 for 4 with four RBIs.

The Wisconsin-bound Lajeunesse admitted she was surprised she only has three home runs this season, but she liked her development at the plate.

Lajeunesse went 3 for 4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. The opposite-field power she displayed in her home run is testimony to the work she is putting in throughout the season.

“I’ve been taking extra batting practice to work on the outside pitches,” Lajeunesse said. “I know teams came in on me last season, but now they’re starting to go away on me, and I needed to adjust.”

PV (9-9, 3-2) showed resiliency in closing the gap early.

PV scored three runs in the second inning with Courtney Brown’s RBI single, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by Mackenzie Tilles and Sofia Johantgen’s sacrifice fly.

Tilles doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning, and Gyerman belted her sixth homer of the season to close within 6-5.

“The first inning was kind of a bad start for us, but we did come back,” Gyerman said. “When it was 6-5, I thought we were turning it around. We just did not get the hits and runs to finish the comeback.”

Mira Costa pitcher Breanna Kelly (15-3) was credited with the win after allowing five runs with nine hits, no strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters in 3<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>3 innings.

But the encouraging aspect was how reliever Kasey Hutton performed. Hutton shut down the PV lineup, allowing no runs with no hits, one strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter.

Lajeunesse called Wednesday’s tuneup a “confidence booster” for Friday’s league title showdown at Peninsula.

Mira Costa hopes to atone for a 8-7 loss to Peninsula on April 11.

“Friday is going to be the game of the season,” Lajeunesse said. “We learned from our flaws in the first Peninsula game and have worked hard. We’ll be ready.”